


Burgundy Contemplations

by toffiendfee



Category: Initial D
Genre: Alternate Universe - Criminals, F/M, Hanahaki Disease, Organized Crime AU, Unhealthy Relationships, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:47:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23129518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toffiendfee/pseuds/toffiendfee
Summary: The status quo must always be preserved.(Written for the Spring 2020 Initial D Exchange)
Relationships: Hojo Rin/Kaori (one-sided), Kaori/Takahashi Ryousuke (one-sided)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	Burgundy Contemplations

**Author's Note:**

> This was the fic I wrote for luceniaperon for the now-cancelled spring exchange, but anyway, here it is! I chose to just combine several of the prompts and tropes mentioned in the request, and I hope you like the result!

Violin music is drifting through the air of the high-end restaurant, just a tad bit too loud to blend into the background noise.

The entrées have been consumed, and a timid waiter comes to take the plates away. The routine remains the same every time. As the desserts are served, most of the pleasantries have been exchanged and all the superficial topics have been talked about. They eat in silence, and the sweetness of the tiramisu turns stale on Kaori's tongue as the atmosphere grows more tense. She wishes this could be a relaxed dinner between three old friends from university, but that is a hopeless wish. The circumstances will never allow it.

Despite of the pointlessness, she sometimes mourns her lost youth and the freedom she never quite had. It was all more light-hearted back then, or had felt like it at least. It was almost paradox how the three of them befriended each other in the first place, knowing full well who they were and that they wouldn't be able to continue their friendship after graduating.

The status quo must be preserved, after all.

That is the one rule in this kind of business. You stay out of each other's territories. As long as the fragile balance of power prevails, there will be no bloody conflict using up resources that are needed in keeping the business alive and growing. That is agreed upon, even though hostility and distrust are always brewing underneath the surface.

The routine of these meetings, therefore, remains the same. Armed bodyguards keeping watch in the corners of the room, at the door, at strategic points of the building. They already blend into the background for her. Still, she is aware of their presence, as not all of them are _her_ bodyguards.

Should one person in this restaurant draw a gun and shoot, chances are that nobody would make it out alive. So much is to be said about that ever-present balance of power.

Her eyes fix onto the dark wine swirling in the glass of the man sitting across from her as he drinks. Poised, with the calmness of someone who has internalized this routine.

"I have been informed that you wanted to talk to me about the new stadium," he says and breaks the fragile stalemate. "I must say that it surprised me to hear that from you now that that project is almost underway."

His expression is one of pleasant neutrality. She watches intently as he sets the glass of wine back down on the pristine tablecloth. The lamplight overhead is reflected in the dark red liquid, and for some reason she can't bring herself to tear her eyes away.

The hostility in her husband's voice is hard to miss as he answers. "I doubt that it will surprise you to hear that I was not exactly delighted when I saw the plans."

Takahashi Ryousuke chuckles lightly at the barely concealed disdain. He always seems to have a good grip on his mask of outward politeness, but everyone in the room knows that underneath, there is the same disdain to be found. You don't make friends in this kind of business, especially not as the heirs to the two most powerful crime syndicates in the metropolitan area.

"Your intervention comes quite late," he says, a tiny aloof smile playing around his lips. "I'm afraid that there is not much to do now that the city council has greenlit the project. It has been in the planning phase for years."

Kaori can do nothing than watch tersely as her husband sets down his glass with a lot more force than necessary.

" _Nowhere_ did it say in the plans that the building site was to be moved to that city district! We had a deal, Takahashi!" He is a few decibels away from shouting, but the sudden outrage is enough to have the bodyguards cautiously lay a hand on their weapons, Kaori notices. She wills herself not to flinch. She would rather be somewhere else, but she supposes it has its advantages that Rin takes her to meetings like this. She has nothing to say, of course, but at least she stays informed. She supposes that her husband wouldn't be pleased to know just how well she pays attention. Information is the most important thing, and she wouldn't have as much access to it if Rin mistrusted her just a little bit less. He has always been a jealous person and likes to know her by his side. Still, it surprises her that he took her to this dinner, of all things. It must mean that he is more oblivious than is healthy for a man of his position.

For a second, hers and Ryousuke's eyes meet. It's hard, if not impossible, to read anything in his guarded expression.

She coughs lightly into her napkin. "Excuse me," she says quietly as her husband glares at her before directing his attention back at the other man.

Ryousuke doesn't seem phased by the anger directed at him. He has become even more suave and unflappable over the past few years. Cold, one might say. Kaori knows that the stadium incident must have been planned in the long run. Ryousuke has just broken the taboo and encroached on their business territory, one that his family never had a hold on.

A small shudder runs down her back. She wonders how this situation will unfold, and whether she still really knows that person on the other side of the table. Is he aware of what he is doing?

He is, if his smile is any indication. In that moment she knows that the old times are gone for good.

She believes that she has always done what was best for herself. Growing up in this world, one was quick to learn that you needed to pick your connections carefully if you wanted to avoid betrayal, prosecution or even death. Kaori's parents had chosen her engagement, and she had chosen to follow their directive. The Hojo Conglomerate was powerful, of course, and it helped that she was already familiar with the heir.

Now, as another cough rises in her throat, it occurs to her that her decision might have been the wrong one. She would love to excuse herself to the bathroom, but she can't leave; not in a situation like this. Rin next to her is practically fuming, and she knows that he has come to the same realisation as she has: Before them sits someone with the aim to destroy the so carefully honed status quo, glaringly obvious through every sentence exchanged in aloof politeness.

Kaori can't even bring herself to be very surprised. Has Ryousuke ever settled for something when he knew he could do greater? Despite the picture that people had of him, he could get almost reckless at times, eyes always set on his goal. He had been like that back in university, too.

She is absorbed in watching the miniscule changes in his mimic and trying to unravel the meanings, so when her husband abruptly stands up from his chair, she does flinch.

"We're leaving, Kaori," he says sharply, refusing to dignify the other man with even another glance. She nods and rises. So does Ryousuke.

"It has been a pleasure to catch up with you. I do hope we get to repeat this eventually. Just like in the old days," he says, each word wrapped in sweet malice.

Exchanging pleasantries is a far more efficient strategy of war than exchanging bullets, and Ryousuke, Kaori knows, is a master at it.

Rin huffs angrily, his always low patience run thin, and practically drags her towards the door.

"What are you doing, Ryousuke?" she whispers in passing him, trusting that her husband will not hear.

He smiles pleasantly, unfamiliarly. "I wish you a nice evening, Mrs. Hojo."

She stares, stares as the doors are held open and the bodyguards follow cautiously. She still stares from inside the limousine, through the dark-tinted bulletproof windows that shut her into relative safety. Rin next to hear can be heard typing furiously on his phone, trying to contact one of his business associates.

She coughs into her hand, blessedly ignored by her busy husband.

The rose petal sticking to her palm is dark like the wine.

**Author's Note:**

> (I hope that since it wasn't specified who should have the unrequited feelings, I chose the dynamic that was wanted.)


End file.
